The Brotherhoods in the Invisible Man free essay sample

The Brotherhood in the Invisible Man Brotherhoods are associations, usually of men, that unite for common purposes. The members in the brotherhood typically respect one another, defend one another, and cooperate to obtain specific goals. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States, whose goal is to create better employment opportunities for workers. Kappa Sigma and Sigma Chi are two of the largest university fraternities in the country and whose similar values are leadership, service, and scholarship. In the novel, the narrator rarely speaks of his family, except for his grandfather who continues to appear throughout the text, thus there is a large absence of family. Brotherhood is a notion in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, where the narrator joins a brotherhood to create bonds with other men like him. In the novel, the narrator encounters three brotherhoods that prove self-serving organizations that prey on the Black community. The narrator comes into contact with three man-led brotherhoods with very distinct ideologies. The first brotherhood the narrator encounters is led by a West Indian man by the name of Ras, the Exhorter. Ras the Exhorter supports a specific, black-centered worldview. He feels deeply rooted for black segregation and power. Ras believes in returning to his roots as a black man and has a hatred for the white man. Perhaps Ras is modeled off of Marcus Garvey, a political figure of the 1950s who believed in returning to Africa and his roots. Brother Jack, the opposite of Ras, is another leader the narrator meets and joins his Brotherhood. The Brotherhood practices to an ideology based on that of American communist groups in the 1930s. Their ideology is centered on the Marxist theory of history which holds that those of lower social status must submit themselves to the unavoidable class struggles on the path to equality (Marx: Theory of History). The last leader of a brotherhood is led by Rinehart. Rinehart’s brotherhood is not as distinct in political awareness of the community as Ras or Brother Jack, but the clear difference in Rinehart’s brotherhood is appearance or identity. Rinehart represents a conception of identity, the idea that a person’s identity can change completely depending on where one is and with whom one interacts. Brother jack and Ras, the Exhorter tend to have brotherhoods formally organized with platforms, speeches made, and events, whereas Rinehart’s brotherhood is hidden and cannot be easily detected. While adventuring Harlem, the narrator encounters the various personalities that make up the three leaders of the brotherhoods. Ras, the Exhorter is first viewed when the narrator enters the city but becomes a much stronger force once the narrator has joined the Brotherhood and stands in opposition to Ras. Ras is inspiring because he has a message that blacks want to listen to, the unity of race. On the other hand, he is terrifying, because his methods are violent. He is perceived not as a visionary but as a dangerous militant, irrational, ridiculous figure. â€Å"†¦knowing that Ras was not funny, or not only funny, but dangerous as well, wrong but justified, crazy and yet coldly sane†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Invisible Man p. 426). Brother Jack gains the narrator’s trust by being kind and compassionate at first, offering him a ton of opportunities like money, a job, and the chance to represent his community. â€Å"He gave the impression that he understood much and spoke out of knowledge far deeper than appeared on the surface of his words† (p. 223). The narrator is aware of Brother Jack’s strange confidence in following him and addressing him in the restaurant. While eating, Brother Jack buys the narrator dessert and proposes the narrator a chance to join the Brotherhood. There are many strings attached to the benefits that the narrator obtains through working for the Brotherhood. Brother Jack demands that the narrator renounce his past, focus on the collective, and use abstract jargon and ideology in his speeches. â€Å"Our discipline demands therefore that we [Brotherhood] talk to no one and that we avoid situations in which information might be given away unwittingly. So you must put aside your past† (p. 234). The last leader Rinehart does not physically appear in the novel however the narrator learns about his different personas when he disguises himself and is taken to be Rinehart. By wearing dark green shades and a big hat for a disguise, people in the streets recognize him as the man Rinehart. Through their perceptions of him, the narrator sees how Rinehart has taken on the conflicting identities of a lover, hipster, runner, pimp, briber, and Reverend. â€Å"He was a broad man, a man of parts who got around. Rinehart the rounder. † (p. 376). Rinehart appears to be especially devious and deceptive, in reality; he has simply learned to adapt to his environment. Two of the three leaders offer the narrator lifestyles that would help him gain some recognition or benefits like Brother Jack and his brotherhood or Rinehart and the ability of disguise. Ras doesn’t necessarily offer a lifestyle to the narrator, and instead they become fast enemies. The narrator develops different relationships with the leaders of the three brotherhoods. Each of the leaders develops either a friendship or becomes an enemy except Rinehart who is neither to the narrator. Ras is the main black opponent to the Brotherhood whom the narrator has to deal with in Harlem. He calls the narrator a traitor for not militantly supporting his race against the white establishment. â€Å"I ahm no black educated fool who t’inks everything between black mahn and white mahn can be settled with some blahsted lies in some bloody books written by the white mahn in the first place† (p. 284). Throughout the novel, the tension between the narrator and Ras intensifies until Ras wants to kill him. â€Å"Hang him up to teach the black people a lesson, and theer be no more traitors. No more Uncle Toms! Hang him up theer with them blahsted dummies† (p. 421). The narrator develops various relationships with Brother Jack when he joins the Brotherhood. Brother Jack approaches the narrator first as a friend that could be loyal when they first meet in the restaurant. Throughout the novel, the narrator’s relationship shifts from friend-friend, leader-follower, father-son, brother-brother, and finally human-machine with Brother Jack as the former in each of the relationships. The leader-follower relationship is first realized when the narrator analyzes Brother Jack after observing his behavior around the other members. Brother Jack very authoritative, the others always respectful. He must be a powerful man, I thought, not a clown at all† (p. 236). The father-son relationship occurs when the narrator gives his first speech as a new member of the Brotherhood. â€Å"He stood up front beside a microphone, his feet planted solidly on the dirty canvas-covered platform, looking from side to side; his posture dignified and benign, like a bemused father, listening to the performance of his adoring children† (p. 257). Before the narrator is made a member of the Brotherhood, there is a scene where the narrator is surrounded by the members and is initiated into the group. â€Å"I was swept into the large room and introduced by my new name. Everyone smiled and seemed eager to meet me†¦All grasped me warmly by the hand† (p. 236). During this scene, the narrator and Brother Jack are considered brothers, or as equals. The last relationship, human-machine, occurs when Brother Jack uses the narrator to help the brotherhood create destruction in Harlem. Rinehart plays as a disguise for the narrator near the end of the novel, when the narrator is fleeing from Ras and his group. The narrator never truly meets Rinehart, but instead uses Rinehart as a mask to learn more about the community. â€Å"I was both depressed and fascinated. I wanted to know Rinehart and yet, I thought, I’m upset because I don’t have to know him, that simply becoming aware of his existence, being mistaken for him, is enough to convince me that Rinehart is real† (p. 376). At first, the narrator feels that Rinehart’s adaptability in the community enables a kind of freedom, but he quickly realizes that Rinehart’s fluidity also represents a complete loss of individual selfhood. In the end, the liquidity of Rinehart’s identity is one of the forces that compel the narrator to discover his own more solid identity. The narrator rarely truly develops a personal relationship with the leaders of the brotherhood. Only two, Brother Jack and Rinehart offer a small shield of protection or light to temporarily stand in to allow the narrator to express thoughts, however not his true genuine ideas. In the novel Invisible Man, the three brotherhoods devise strategies in manipulating the community to obtain benefits best fit for their organization. Ras, the Exhorter uses the appeal of emotion to help rally people for campaign. The narrator finds this method irrational and annoying because Ras is able to gather up people better than the Brotherhood. â€Å"†¦when I first came to Harlem one of the first things that impressed me was a man making a speech from a ladder. He spoke very violently and with an accent, but he had an enthusiastic audience†¦Why can’t we carry our program to the street the same way† (p. 276). Ras also uses violence to get his point across whereas the Brotherhood uses logic and reason in their approach. The Brotherhood defines history as a force shaped by the peoples will, when actually the Brotherhood defines the peoples will and thereby shapes history. There is a strict hierarchical organization of the Brotherhood, its central committee, is the principal definer and mover of history with the lower committees as puppets or pawns. On the surface, it seems to reflect the peoples desires, but truly it is but a means of asserting the committees power over the people. According to Jack, the narrator was speaking not for his private interests in mind but as a response to what the people wanted. â€Å"At any rate, through our very position in the vanguard we must do and say the things necessary to get the greatest number of the people to move toward what is their own good† (p. 381). Somebody has to provide a scientific understanding of this determining force, however, and such a role is conveniently fulfilled by the Brotherhood itself. Although Rinehart is depicted as a con-artist who takes advantage of the people of Harlem, he does so in such a way as to take advantage of everyone in Harlem. Not just the blacks and not just the whites, by playing on the ideas of what they are able to see and what they remain blind to Rinehart dresses according to their needs or environment. â€Å"Was that also what Rinehart was, a principle of hope for which they gladly paid† (p. 382). The Brotherhood supposedly advocates nonviolence and focuses on integration and cooperation where both whites and blacks will be able to work together for the good of society as a whole, especially the poor and oppressed. In contrast, Rass followers advocate freedom and equality even if it means fighting for these rights. The Brotherhood focuses on issues of both race and class, whereas Rass followers emphasize race as the deciding factor. By the narrator making him blind and invisible in the persona of Rinehart, he is finally able to see the reality of how both whites and blacks on their various sides have been working collectively to keep the black people and culture in their place. Rinehart seems to be a mixture of the concepts of Ras and the Brotherhood, yet Rinehart doesn’t allow for his community to come to destruction at the end of the novel. Although Rinehart stands for chaos, his world is full of fluidity in identity that it can represent possibility.